A movement control protocol has been implemented with the aim to monitor and control movement of livestock and livestock products out of, into, within and through the Disease Management Area (DMA) in the KwaZulu-Natal Province.
According to the DALRRD’s recent Foot and Mouth report, the Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development, Thoko Didiza, has declared a Disease Management Area (DMA) in the KwaZulu-Natal Province in the Government Gazette No. 44783 on 30 June 2021.
The DMA includes the district municipalities of King Cetshwayo, Umkhanyakude and Zululand.
This effectively means that no cloven-hoofed animals, their products and genetic material are allowed to move out of, into, within or through the Disease Management Area, herein after referred to as KZN DMA, except on authority of a permit issued by the Veterinary Services of the area.
The outbreak was detected on 27 May 2021 in a communal grazing area in the Mtubatuba Local Municipality in the Umkhanyakude District Municipality of the KwaZulu-Natal Province.
The virus responsible for the outbreak is a SAT 2 serotype and is closely related to a SAT 2 virus responsible for an outbreak that occurred in the Protection Zone in northern Limpopo Province in 2019.
The Technical Task Team, Veterinary Operations Committee, Joint Operations Committee and FMD Liason have been established.
“Subsequently, twenty-two positive locations have been identified, and these encompass two clusters of dip tanks in communal grazing land, as well as two commercial feedlots,” states the report.
As at 4th August, 139 permits for more than 11 000 pigs for slaughter, 81 permits for more than 3 500 cattle for slaughter, 1 permit for 30 sheep for slaughter, 2 permits for 181 pigs to enter the DMA as replacement stock, 3 permits for 13 breeding cattle to enter the DMA.
The report further said that a number of Veterinary Visible Patrols have been setup, assisted by SAPS and Traffic.
“To date 14 fines have been issued, 13 roadblocks set up and 31 vehicles patrolling the area.
“As soon as surveillance has been completed, and the extend of the outbreak confirmed, the DMA boundaries will be revised to make the area smaller and more manageable, and to also release some of the communities that are not affected.
“The decision to vaccinate or not to vaccinate will be taken depending on the rate of spread, this will be informed by the second round of surveillance,” concluded the report.
